I had an amazing birthday thanks to my wonderful husband. I was completely spoilt and was thankful for the opportunity to spend a birthday in New York.

We slept in after being awake until late the night before. We are still adjusting to the new time zone, but I feel like it's getting easier every day. We had an early lunch in a nice cafe and I had the best coffee I have had since being in the states. Chris also tried some New York cheese cake. Then we headed to Rockefella plaza to go ice-skating. I was a little worried about falling over, but found it surprisingly easy to pick up. This was a highlight of the trip so far. It was really fun and very romantic too. We were going to go to Central park afterwards for a picnic, but decided not to as we had a late lunch and it was also a very cold day. So we looked in some shops around Rockefella plaza instead. We went into the Nintendo store, and I have to admit I even found it quite interesting, but Chris loved it

. We also had a look in the NBC shop which had some great merchandise from tv shows that we watch. I was really tempted to buy a huge central perk coffee cup but decided it was too hard to take around the world. Before dinner we went to a cafe to get a drink and soaked in the atmosphere of New York at night time. Everywhere was really packed so we were lucky to find a cafe with a spare seat. I think this was the craziest we had seen New York. We had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp. A cool cafe which of course is based on the Forrest Gump movie. Everything on the menu is Shrimp, which is why Chris wanted to take me there for my birthday. The cafe had great red booths and some fantastic pictures and signs. There was a sign on our table which said 'run forrest run'. We didn't think much of it until the waiter explained that if you want to be served you have to flip the sign over to 'stop forrest stop' otherwise they will leave you alone.

After an incredible dinner we went to see a broadway show- The Lion King. It was fantastic! The set design and costumes were incredible and I love African music. Thanks to Chris it was a really great birthday.

The next day we flew to North Carolina on the smallest plane I've ever been on. We were really happy to get to NC and breath in the fresh air! It is a really great place from what we have seen so far and everyone has been incredibly friendly. Jumbo picked us up from the airport and on our first night we went to a bible study and to church. The service was fantastic and I'm looking forward to making it our home church for a while.